Development of Bioimpedance-based Measuring Systems for Diagnosis of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide, it is the primary cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of the disease is estimated as high as 25% of the general population up to 90% of obese and diabetic patients. Most patients are asymptomatic or does not experience specific complaints making them difficult to diagnose and treat. However, due to the limitations of available diagnostic procedures and the current gold standard for diagnosis, the liver biopsy, there is a worldwide demand to develop a non-invasive diagnostic tool and procedure that can detect the disease with high accuracy at an early reversible stage, furthermore is cost-effective, user-friendly, and provides repeatable measurement. Based on the metrological experience of our research team, we started developing an electrical impedance-based diagnostic procedure a few years ago that meets these requirements and is suitable for early detection of NAFLD with the help of a world-new measurement and data collection solution. In this article, we present the most important milestones in the development of instruments related to research.